Florida Attorney General files price fixing lawsuit

The Florida Attorney General’s office has filed a lawsuit in federal court against nine auto-filter manufacturers alleging they conspired to illegally fix prices since at least 1999. The suit, the first to be filed by a state Attorney General, joins a nationwide group of filter-related suits consolidated in Chicago federal court. It’s alleged in the Florida suit that executives of the companies met on numerous occasions to maintain artificially high prices and allocate customers and markets for oil, air and fuel filters. The Defendants named in the suit are: Champion Laboratories; Purolator Filters; Honeywell International; Wix Filtration; Cummins Filtration; Donaldson Co.; Baldwin Filters; Affinia Group; and ArvinMeritor. The suit seeks $1 million in fines for each violation and any award it may receive tripled.